A firmware setup utility executing on a computing system is configured to display a two-dimensional barcode, such as a Quick Response (“QR”) code. The two-dimensional barcode may be encoded with data about the computing system and/or a hyperlink specifying a location from which additional information may be retrieved. Another device, such as a mobile device, may be utilized to scan the two-dimensional barcode, decode the information contained therein, and present the data. If a hyperlink is encoded in the two-dimensional barcode, the device may retrieve the additional information from the specified location and present the retrieved data.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A computer-implemented method for providing information in a firmware environment utilizing two-dimensional barcodes, the method comprising computer-implemented operations for: displaying, by way of a computing system, a plurality of selectable headings in a user interface of a firmware setup utility; determining privileges associated with a current user of the computing system; gathering from the computing system, for individual selectable headings of the plurality of selectable headings, data associated with the computing system, the data selected, at least partly, based on the privileges associated with the current user and providing additional information associated with the individual selectable headings; generating respective two-dimensional barcodes corresponding to each of the individual selectable headings, the two-dimensional barcodes encoding the respective corresponding gathered data; detecting a user input selecting one of the plurality of selectable headings; and displaying, in the user interface, the two-dimensional barcode corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of selectable headings in response to detecting the user input, wherein the two-dimensional barcode corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of selectable headings is based at least in part on the privileges associated with the current user.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the data associated with the computing system measures a value indicative of system health.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein generating a two-dimensional barcode further comprises applying a color to the two-dimensional barcode from among a plurality of colors, wherein each of the plurality of colors represents a value, or range of values, or data indicative of system health.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the data associated with the computing system comprises firmware version information.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data associated with the computing system comprises a unique identifier for a particular hardware device in the computing system.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the user input selecting the one of the plurality of selectable headings further comprises detecting user input over the one of the plurality of selectable headings.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining the privileges associated with the current user comprises determining whether the current user has administrative privileges or user privileges.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the two-dimensional barcode comprises a Quick Response (QR) code.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the selectable headings represent configurable parameters associated with the computing system.
10. A system for providing information in a firmware environment using two-dimensional barcodes, the system comprising: a mobile computing device; and a computing system executing a firmware configured to display a plurality of selectable headings in a user interface, each of the plurality of selectable headings representing a configurable parameter associated with the computing system, gather, for each of the plurality of selectable headings, data associated with the computing system, the data providing additional details associated with the configurable parameter, the data selected, at least partly, based on the privileges associated with a current user, generate a two-dimensional barcode for each of the plurality of selectable headings, the two-dimensional barcode encoding the gathered data, detect a user input selecting one of the plurality of selectable headings, and display the two-dimensional barcode corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of selectable headings in response to detecting the user input selecting one of the plurality of selectable headings, wherein the two-dimensional barcode corresponding to the selected one of the plurality of selectable headings is based at least in part on the privileges associated with the current user.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the firmware is further configured to: determine whether the current user of the computing system has administrative privileges or user privileges; in response to determining the current user has administrative privileges, including, in the data providing additional details associated with the configurable parameter, location data specifying a source of technical information related to the configurable parameter; and in response to determining the current user has user privileges, including, in the data providing additional details associated with the configurable parameter, location data specifying a source of help information related to the configurable parameter.
12. The system of claim 10 , wherein displaying the two-dimensional barcode in response to detecting the user input selecting one of the plurality of selectable headings further comprises displaying the two-dimensional barcode from a user interface of a firmware setup utility.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein displaying the two-dimensional barcode in response to detecting the user input selecting one of the plurality of selectable headings further comprises displaying the two-dimensional barcode in response to detecting a mouse-over event.
14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the two-dimensional barcode is a Quick Response (QR) code.
15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the data associated with the computing system comprises a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of a source of additional information related to the data associated with the computing system.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the additional information related to the data associated with the computing system comprises information from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the computing system.
17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the information from an OEM comprises links to an OEM social media site.
18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to: display, in a firmware setup utility on the computing system, one or more selectable headings representing configurable parameters associated with the computing system, gather, for each of the one or more selectable headings, location data specifying a source of additional information associated with each of the selectable headings; generate a two-dimensional barcode for each of the one or more selectable headings, the two-dimensional barcode encoding the gathered data, detect a user input selecting one of the one or more selectable headings, determine whether the data associated with the computing system for the selected one of the one or more selectable headings comprises an error message related to a test failure, in response to determining that the data associated with the computing system does not comprise the error message, display the two-dimensional barcode corresponding to the selected one of the one or more selectable headings in response to detecting the user input selecting one of the one or more selectable headings, and in response to determining that the data associated with the computing system comprises the error message, increase a display size of the two-dimensional barcode encoding the error message beyond a display size of the two-dimensional barcode corresponding to the selected one of the one or more selectable headings.
19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the data associated with the computing system comprises a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of a source of additional information related to the data associated with the computing system.
20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the additional information related to the data associated with the computing system comprises information from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the computing system.
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March 7, 2016
November 14, 2017
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